The Girl in the Cafe (2005)

 

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Rated: TVMA

reviewed by: Charity Bishop
 

Social stigmas make May-December romances rather controversial. These pairings usually involve an older man and a young woman. The Girl at the Cafe is both an exploration of this sort of relationship and a political statement about extreme poverty. The message resonates but the moral and ethical questions involved might make more conservative audiences squirm.

"Workaholic." That is how Lawrence (Bill Nighy) describes himself. A man of no remaining family, few friends, and almost zero conversational skills when it comes to discussing anything apart from business, one afternoon he steps out for coffee at a local cafe and is forced to ask permission from a young woman if he might borrow one side of the table. Gina (Kelly Macdonald) scoots over on her side and tells him to go right ahead. The two avoid eye contact, send lingering glances in one another's direction, and fumble through a sort-of conversation before ending as awkwardly as they began, but not before he musters up the courage to ask if she would like to have lunch sometime. To his complete astonishment, she agrees and two weeks later (which is the soonest his crowded itinerary allows) they spent an equally unusual lunch together, followed by an impromptu supper.

Lawrence is about to leave for Iceland to attend a world summit to discuss global democracy, including one issue close to his heart -- millions of deaths by starvation in Africa. No one seems to know what to do and all are reluctant to pursue it with much gusto, as it is a deeply controversial topic. Spontaneously, Lawrence asks Gina if she would like to come along and as she has nothing else to do, she agrees. His passion ignites a fire in her and soon she is harassing his employers to make more of a stand in the summit, in the hope that something can be accomplished. In the meantime, shyly they come to know one another and then Lawrence begins to wonder if her true motives are something else entirely. What unfolds is a film about to social misfits who are perfect for one another when you consider the fact that both of them have no social skills. Watching them have lunch is both adorable and excruciating, as you want to shake one or both and tell them to relax.

There is a certain amount of suspended disbelief involved, first that Gina would go globe-trotting with a man twice her age that she has only known for a matter of hours, and second that Lawrence would manage to obtain any sort of position of authority with such poor conversational skills. Most of the film finds him cowering in the background and allowing everyone else to dominate. I haven't known many men in politics but most of them have more charisma than that. Those obvious faults aside, the performances are lovely, but Macgonald steals the film with her adorableness. The sweet innocence of her character combined with her obvious talent for delivering hilarious patches of dialogue with a straight face obscures everyone else. I will be the first to admit I am a Nighy fan. He never fails to impress me on screen, but either the delivery of this film or its basic premise pushed all the wrong buttons. It was cute on some levels and icky on others. I'm not against these pairings in general but for some reason this one put off a bad vibe.

Due to overbooking, Lawrence and Gina are forced to share a hotel room in Iceland. This leads to general nervousness and awkwardness as they grow accustomed to one another, but inevitably it is implied they sleep together. Gina initiates the encounter, which allows us to see more of her than I would have liked as she removes her night shirt and climbs into bed. Fortunately, the scene goes no further than a kiss. Once, she walks behind him and removes her shirt while changing clothes, allowing a man in the passage to catch a glimpse of her undergarments. One harsh abuse of deity and four f-words are present. There is a political undercurrent about government-funded assistance in Africa, which is a nice concept but impractical. (It's my opinion that privately funded organizations and charitable institutions have less bureaucracy and do greater good.) I'm not quite certain what to think of the film, really. I liked the awareness it brings to the terrible death rate among children in impoverished nations, but the obvious gap in the leading actors' ages makes it a bit creepy, and that is one thing I never appreciate in a romance.